Move to another subnet

Open a canister’s Placement section and choose Move to another subnet. A guided flow moves its code and data to a canister on another subnet. Each step opens its own review, and your progress is kept in this browser.

First, choose the outcome

Option	Result	Best when
New canister from a snapshot	The data moves into another canister, which keeps its own ID. The original stays as a fallback.	You can update the callers and settings that use the old ID.
Keep the canister ID	The original ID itself moves to the new subnet.	Other systems must keep using the same ID.

Keeping the same ID is irreversible: it deletes the old instance and burns its remaining cycles. It needs Mainnet, both canisters stopped, and at least 10 TC on the original.

The steps

1. Plan: choose the outcome.

2. Destination: pick, or create, a canister on another subnet.

3. Snapshot: stop the original and take a snapshot.

4. Transfer: copy the snapshot to the destination and load it.

5. References: review settings and environment variables that mention the old ID.

6. Cutover: start the destination and check it runs where expected.

Good to know

• A snapshot carries code and data, not settings. The References step covers those.
• If you’re interrupted, reopen the flow: it continues from the last step that finished.
• After the move, check the app works before you remove anything.